Circumstances of baby's death questioned in court

A judge Friday rejected Vidal J. Martin’s request that his bond be reduced from $250,000 to $100,000 as his attorney claims the state’s evidence against Martin is faulty.

Michael Glover - michael.glover@examiner.net

A judge Friday rejected Vidal J. Martin’s request that his bond be reduced from $250,000 to $100,000 as his attorney claims the state’s evidence against Martin is faulty.
Martin, of Kansas City, is accused of abusing and murdering an 11-month-old boy in Blue Springs in 2006. Prosecutors last August charged the 36-year-old with second-degree murder, abuse of a child resulting in death and endangering the welfare of a child.
Joseph Mergerman, his defense attorney, told the judge Martin has no prior felony convictions and that he’s not a flight risk and has a job lined up. Also, he’s not a threat to the community, Mergerman said.
But Jackson County Circuit Judge Marco Roldan said a grand jury indicted Martin and a judge initially set the bond at $250,000, when Martin was indicted last August. Although Roldan acknowledged Mergerman’s claim that the range of bond that fits the charges is at the $100,000 amount, the judge said it’s not unreasonable, according to state statutes, to make bond at $250,000.
In February 2006, emergency responders went to a home in the 400 block of Candletree Drive in Blue Springs regarding an infant who wasn’t breathing, according to court papers.
The mother said the infant had a seizure, choked and went lifeless. Martin, the mother’s boyfriend, was with the baby before the episode, according to the documents. But when paramedics arrived, the boy began breathing on his own. The mother had the infant checked at the hospital.
A couple days later, paramedics went to the house again. The baby had apparently stopped breathing. He was taken to the hospital.
The boy died a day later.
A doctor at the hospital found he had suffered from injuries indicative of being shaken.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy but couldn’t determine a cause of death, ruling it undetermined. But in November 2007, the medical examiner reviewed the autopsy and changed the cause of death to “blunt force head injuries” and ruled it a homicide.
A police investigation found that shortly before the non-breathing episode, the boy was in the sole care of Martin.
The case is scheduled for trial in November.
“There’s serious evidence problems with this case,” Mergerman told the judge.
Mergerman blasted the Medical Examiner’s Office, saying it ruled the death undetermined then changed the ruling that prompted the charges against Martin.
Sally Elrod, Martin’s sister, testified that her brother is a giving, caring person who’s not a troublemaker.
“He has a great heart,” Elrod said. “He’s good with kids.”
About 10 of Martin’s relatives and friends attended the hearing, which Mergerman pointed out to the judge, saying that it shows family support toward Martin.